Adopting a display

Adopt-a-shelf programs at public and school libraries ask volunteers to be responsible for shelf-reading and straightening a designated section of the library, usually a section to which the volunteer feels a personal attachment.

I am blessed this semester with seven student interns and I am conscious of making sure that the time they spend with me involves them in  creative and challenging activities.

I am also concerned that our wonderful print collection is under used.

So, instead of adopting a shelf, I’ve tasked three of my interns to adopt-a-display.

Here’s the plan.

• Each young man is currently planning to market a particular genre, sub-genre, or type of book.
• They can use a variety of poster making tools, genre Wordles, QR codes, graphics of any sort to call attention to their displays.
• They can physically point their classmates to the books they display.
• We’ve decided on a simple metric to determine success.  Circulation. Books in each display area will have a different color paper strip in its pocket.  We’ll collect and count the strips as we check out the books.  (I’d do something to tag the books in the circ/cat, but we’re in the midst of a migration and this is just really easy.)

Marcus, Brandon and Gabe are pretty excited about the challenge and taking the competition seriously.  They are currently researching genre and sub-genre options, studying the catalog and the collection, and thinking about design options.

I’ll keep you posted!

Filed under: books, bulletin boards, display, volunteers